Laurie was born in Oxford, England. The youngest of four children, Hugh has a brother (elder by 6 years) and two sisters. His mother, Patricia (née Laidlaw), died from motor neurone disease when Laurie was 29. According to Laurie, it took her two years to die, and she suffered "painful, plodding paralysis" while being cared for by Laurie's father, whom he called "the sweetest man in the whole world". He had a somewhat strained relationship with his mother. His father, W.G.R.M. "Ran" Laurie, was a medical doctor who also won an Olympic gold medal in the coxless pairs (rowing) at the 1948 London Games.

Laurie was raised in the Scottish Presbyterian church. He was brought up in Oxford and attended the Dragon School, a prestigious preparatory school.[citation needed] He later went on to Eton and then to Selwyn College, Cambridge, where he achieved a Third-Class Honours degree in archaeology and anthropology.

Like his father, Laurie was an oarsman at school and university; i